FromSoftware's Elden Ring is one of the most successful new releases in 2022. The Soulslike fantasy epic sold 13.4 million copies between its launch in February 25 and March 31, according to Bandai Namco's financial reports, and since then players have had time to conquer the game and play it again.
While the action-RPG Elden Ring is expected to engage players for at least 50 to 70 hours, excluding side quests, speedrunners have managed to complete the game and defeat both Radagon of the Golden Order and the Elden Beast in under seven minutes. Others may take a more relaxed approach and try to achieve as many alternate endings and quests as possible, though after a few months even these players may be running out of new content to explore. Luckily, a fan-made Convergence mod could come into play soon.
What is the Convergence Mod?
The team of three behind the 2020 Convergence mod for Dark Souls 3 put out a Tweet on June 13 that said, "The stars have aligned, the Convergence is nigh! The development has commenced." That announcement received over 28,000 likes in just five days.
The Dark Souls 3 Convergence mod was renowned for overhauling the game with a specific emphasis on spellcraft. By its final iteration, it included new classes, over a hundred spells to try, weapons, factions, NPCs, and even reimagined bosses. Of course, the game was still balanced around these new, more powerful abilities with scaling boss fights. Many of these elements were well-received by the Dark Souls community, and the modders' work wrapped up on February 21 - allowing them to now fully focus on Elden Ring.
What Should be in Elden Ring's Convergence Mod
It is very likely that the new Convergence mod will function similarly to the last, leaving some players possibly more excited to see what comes out of it than the expected Elden Ring DLC. Trying to recapture that feeling of playing the game for the first time may be impossible, but perhaps this mod will be able to help satiate that desire.
Based on replies to the team's tweet, many are hoping for a few creative takes on the sorcerers and incantations from the base game. Some interesting suggestions include storm miracles, gravity magic, faith-based frenzy incantations, sleep spells, or poison/pest spells. Convergence mods are known for adding new bosses and NPCs, so seeing how incantations would act against enemies, old and new alike, could be interesting.
Those who played Nioh may recall that the game allows for repeat boss fights. Hollow Knight employs a similar model in its Hall of Gods, which allows players to fight bosses sequentially without having to go through the entire game again. Being able to revisit a few favorite bosses from Elden Ring, such as Radagon and the Elden Beast, Morgott the Omen King, or Starscourge Radahn could be a great addition to the upcoming mod.
The prospect of being able to delve deeper into the open world's untraversed lands, such as the Lands Between or the Erdtree, is something many would also like to see. A lot of areas are currently inaccessible, but with the help of a thorough mod, players may not have to wait for potential DLC. Additional side quests could be a perfect reason for players to travel into these areas, in addition to the possibility of expanding on other storylines such as the mysteries of The Greater Will.
The first iteration of the Convergence mod will likely not be as fleshed out as the Dark Souls 3 mod has become, though over time it will be updated, and by the end it may even turn into something of a sequel to Elden Ring. Elden Ring fans have reason to be excited for the game's future playability, both because of this mod and official updates that have been confirmed by FromSoftware. The first mod was well-received because it was able to maintain the original feeling of the game and balance in new content, and its likely the next Convergence will achieve the same praise.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
